While looking at this snap, think about hand eye co-ordination.

Without a super deep domestic cricket news wire, I tend not to be too dramatic when a player isn't picked for a domestic cricket game as it's just as likely that the player has a niggling injury as they do a lack of form. This has happened all season, in both formats of domestic cricket and because I don't have concrete details on why a player wasn't selected, I switch my attention to who replaced that player and which players performed in the absence of an established player.

Things get a bit murky when a player like Jimmy Neesham hasn't exactly been in lovely form this summer; Neesham didn't pass 40 in four Plunket Shield games, had a duck vs West Indians and then 2 vs Canterbury in round one of Ford Trophy. Neesham was not selected for round two and Brad Wilson who usually opens the batting in Plunket Shield (super duper solid Brad Wilson) was selected, only Wilson didn't open and wasn't required to bat as Otago chased down Wellington's target of 254 having lost just 4 wickets.

Wilson ain't exactly a power-hitter, leading me to believe that he would have come in earlier had Otago found themselves in a spot of bother. 59/2 in the 10th over is a wee spot of bother, but with Shawn Hicks and Neil Broom at the crease, Wilson was able to kick back and watch a young batsman take his opportunity. In Neesham's absence, 22-year-old Hicks moved up to #3 (#4 in round one) and played a classy knock in which he scored 83* off 116 balls, re-building the innings alongside Broom and allowing for Anaru Kitchen to come in for a cheeky whack (50 @ 147.05sr).

Neesham's absence left a vacant #3 spot and a young lad who has a similar career-path to Neesham snapped up his chance; Hicks came up through the grades in Auckland (after moving to Auckland from South Africa) and moved down to Otago this season in search of a consistent gig, as Neesham did.

This move south has started out exactly as Hicks would have hoped as he has not only been given opportunities that were not coming at Auckland, he's scored runs. In his first PS game for Otago (round five) he hit 35 and 63, now he's on a not-out streak with 14* and 83* in two FT games. Like Neesham, Hicks dabbles in some seamers as well but is yet to bowl in FT.

It's also important to point out that Hicks did this against Hamish Bennett and Logan van Beek, who dominated PS first stanza. While that may look impressive on the surface, the noteworthiness is in the fact that Bennett and van Beek are both averaging over 40 after two FT games, conceding over 4.80rpo and they have each taken just 1w in the each of the first two games.

Part-time Wellington seamer Matt Taylor has 2w like Bennett and van Beek, but he's bowled just 5ov @ 16avg.

The craft shown by Hicks to rebuild the innings and see it through to the finish was impressive and in a few games for Otago, Hicks has shown that he can hang at this level. Hicks will face much better bowling attacks (Wellington and Canterbury's seam bowlers are reasonably poo right now) in the coming games and if he is able to put up another notable score against a better bowling attack, he'll be announcing his arrival in funk-a-delic neon lights.

That'll also add some funk to Neesham's return. He won't be able to immediately slot back into #3 now and with Hicks offering some all-round ability, Neesham will have to demand opportunities through impressive FT performances. There's not a whole lot of space in Otago's line up either, as Broom and Kitchen put up their first notable scores of the FT, Derek de Boorder isn't losing his spot; I doubt Neesham will bat in the top-five in the next few games at least.

I have discussed the kiwi-African influence on cricket, or more importantly the next wave of kiwi-Africans coming through, at great length over the past month and Hicks is an example of it. Wellington were able to set Otago a decent target largely thanks to Devon Conway's 74* and youz know how I feel about Conway, so to see him breakout with his first notable score on kiwi soil was all-round chur, especially after he gave us a wee snippet in round one with his 39.

There aren't too many batsmen in Aotearoa who can play a shot like this for four and seeing this reminds me of Ross Taylor's back-foot drives that ping to the point boundary:

It's one thing to hit this through cover, another to hit it square.

Conway is now 5th in runs and the four lads ahead of him (Munro, Watling, Ryder, Rutherford) have all scored centuries, thus hitting the bulk of their runs in one innings. Get used to me spinning the Conway yarn because I suspect we'll be seeing him stack up FT runs in the coming weeks.

That one game featured six kiwi-Africans; Hicks, Conway, Malcolm Nofal, Peter Younghusband, Michael Rippon and Warren Barnes.

Based on what Neil Wagner has done in Test and all formats of domestic cricket, as well as County cricket, I labelled him Aotearoa's best bowler. That's to say that suggesting that Wagner is Aotearoa's best Test bowler doesn't do him justice, there's no caveats here or any asterix's, only the fact that Neil Wagner is Aotearoa's best bowler.

Ross Taylor and Kane Williamson exist in the batting landscape, while I also appreciate Jesse Ryder's nek-level talent, so with regards to Aotearoa's best batsman, it's slightly different.
Apart from Taylor, Williamson and Ryder, George Worker is Aotearoa's best batsman.

Ryder hit another glorious knock in Central Districts' win over Northern Districts, his third century of the summer and he has six notable scores in eight innings this summer (PS + FT). Ryder's century was supported by Worker's 96 and when these two are batting together, runs get scored; in the two PS games they played together, Worker hit a century and a 50 while Ryder had two 50+ scores and now their first FT game saw them both cash in as well.

Worker's in and out of CD's line up thanks to his yo-yo treatment of the pesky Blackcaps, so hopefully we see him enjoy some consistency with the Stags. He's notched a notable score in each of his last three domestic games (two PS, one FT) and if Worker can enjoy some consistent FT game time, he's probably going to repeat last season's exploits that saw him average 82.37 in 10 FT games.

Hit an ad if you enjoyed the read, tell a friend, keep it real, chur.

Peace and love 27.